These days, Capitol Center for the Arts Executive Director Salvatore Prizio says trying to grab a ticket to see your favorite artist is kind of like the Wild West. Ticket scams, price gouging and seats scooped up by the time the website loads are becoming the new normal. And that's leaving fans to pay higher prices through third-party websites to see their favorite artists.
Those frustrations are what drove Prizio to join a national coalition of arts professionals calling on Congress to pass the Fans First Act — a bipartisan bill that aims to add more transparency to ticketing and cut down on price gouging. It's awaiting action in the U.S. Senate.
Prizio said ticket gouging scams have left venues like his saddled with fraudulent charges.
When Gladys Knight came to New Hampshire last year, Prizio said fake ticket sales and fraudulent bank charges cost the Capitol Center close to $14,000. He said if it’s happening in smaller markets, it’s even worse elsewhere.
Prizio has asked New Hampshire legislators to enact laws that better protect consumers and venues.
When local customers get scammed, Prizio said the customer service staff at his and other venues are often the ones that have to answer for it — even if it’s out of their control. Some websites also list tickets at a higher price than the official venue website, but Prizio says tickets re-sold through third party sites do not benefit the artists or the venue.
“It seems incredibly unjust that either the person who created the IP or the venue who's risking tens of thousands of dollars to bring that artist to the space, don't have any participation and/or say in these huge markups on these third party sites” Prizio said.
Prizio said the safest bet for fans is to try to buy directly from the official venue whenever possible. Some outside websites will mimic the official venue's websites by copying and displaying seating charts, or using the venue’s name within the web address.
“This is not the sketchy dude out in front of a place, selling the extra tickets that he's got, right?’” Prizio said. “It's so much more invasive than it used to be.”
